Good morning to everyone!
I had a bit of an...experience on the way to work this morning. I was in the outside lane - minding my own business and singing along to a bit of Credence Clearwater Revival (you should have been there) travelling behind a Ford Ranger in the outside lane when, for some (still) unknown reason he slams on to such an extent that the nose pitches into the road and it almost looks like it's going to flip over.
This came as some surprise to me so I slammed on too and it came as an even greater surprise to the brand new 7 Series who was a foot off my bumper. Seeing that there was no way he was stopping, and a gap had opened up, I lifted off the brakes to move over to the middle lane whereupon I braked a lot more gently. The BM took up the space I had occupied 2 seconds earlier and the guy looked a bit sheepish. He had a very nice car though so I'll let him off.
Anyway, my question is, when I braked the second time, the ABS kicked in for about a second even though I was braking very gently. No diesel, rainwater or anything on the ground, and very good relatively new tyres all round.
Why do you suppose this is? I don't think it's a coincidence that it happened seconds after I braked the hardest I've ever braked (if I was driving an auto, it would have been a two footer jobbie) but I'm surprised it kicked in under such gentle pressure.
No doubt the ABS module is about to blow up, or maybe the brakes have just crumbled away. It wouldn't surprise me. The car had an evil grin on it's face when I walked up the drive before - and I just know it's storing some vicious and expensive problem ready to unleash when I have virtually no money.
Many thanks for any advice you can all impart.
Adam
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who was a foot off my bumper.
Stop exaggerating, Adamski!
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very hot disks and pads.. grabbing?
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Would the discs be that hot though bearing in mind I'd been on the motorway for around 20 minutes beforehand?
And no exaggeration snaily! Ok...well...maybe a little one.
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The car had an evil grin on it'sface when I walked up the drive ...>>
Would that be a Rover 75? Its hooded hedlamp evil eye look must have lost it loads of sales......quite apart from what looks like a wok attached to the boot as the rear number plate design!
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Never thought of it as a Wok but you're dead right - ever done an inkspot test ?
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What makes you say there was no diesel on the road? It can be completely invisible but still reduce adhesion very considerably.
What you describe was quite a decent bit of driving on your part. I used to be able to do things like that but I wonder if I would be quite so quick these days. No doubt some consideration of that sort has led me to my present mimsing configuration.
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You're far too kind Lud - the space just sort of...opened and I just thought "I'll use that!". Really nothing spectacular - and probably looked very sloppy to any spectators.
If I'd have been on the ball, I'd have let him drive into the back of me. Might have given me an excuse I'm so desperate for then.
You're right about the diesel I guess there could have been some on the ground - quite scary if there was some lying there - especially when you see the state of some of the driving on that route which, incidently, is some of the most discourteous, dangerous and thoughtless I have ever seen.
Still, makes the drive in all the more entertaining. And for that, I'm very grateful.
Adam
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Edited by Altea Ego on 12/09/2008 at 14:56
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What did you go and do that for RF?
Now I think you've said something interesting and controversial.
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Just musing that you had one 88th of a second after braking
a: to look in your rear mirror,
b: compute the BMW ( oh hold on must stereotype him) the careful bmw driver wouldnt stop
c: look to your left
d: compute the gap was there
e: turn the wheel
f: move into the gap.
Very smart driving young sir.
Unless of course you were exagerating and the BMW driver wasnt one foot off your bumper. As we all know - highly unlikely because all BMWs are driven in a safe and courteous manner and no one knows where they got this unfair reputation from.
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Well thank you for picking holes in my story and making it sound a whole lot more boring. Thank you very much, PAL!
Firstly, the fact it was a BM was irrelevant. Love them. Hope to own a nice 535 at some point in my life and completely don't go in for car stereotypes - not since the heap of rubbish, French, badly made Peugeot we owned blew up years ago.
Secondly, of course I didn't do all that in one second! But if I'd have said 7 seconds, 11 seconds, 4 minutes - well I've just lost the audience haven't I? Plus, it wouldn't seem like I was the perfect driver that I really am.
I mean, if after Mr Algernon-Smythe or whoever he was came on here saying "I've just clipped a bus" - wouldn't be very interesting would it?
Adam
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Oh, and just to make clear, I am not a perfect driver by any stretch. I've not had any crashes per se but I have driven a van (with, it later transpired, VERY expensive roof lights) under a bridge that was quite a bit lower than the van.
Not bad for someone who'd just started there a month before was it? So you see Lud, your praise and admiration is, I'm ashamed to say, completely misplaced.
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Now that was a story with legs.
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Children children, calm down now :)
This reminds me of the time my brother shunted into the back of a Citroen BX in his Orion on the outside lane of the motorway.
To this day he is adamant that it was the BX's fault as it had ABS and the guy had actually came to a stop a large distance from the car in front when in actual fact his braking should not have been as good and that way my brother wouldn't have ran into the back of him!
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Braking unnecessarily hard is a mimser's technique, and can often be incredibly annoying and/or dangerous. It goes with reacting too late in the first place, and usually ends in coming to a complete stop when it isn't necessary and/or taking a ridiculous length of time to get moving again.
It's a minefield out there.
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>Braking unnecessarily hard is a mimser's technique<
.. and on a busy M'way it commonly leads to those pulses of stop-go we all complain about.
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Even without ABS the brakes on a BX are truly outstanding for a car of its type and far superior to those on an Orion. I think your brother should be complaining that the BX had four fully powered disk brakes.
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Might any of your tyres have been over a white line when you started breaking?
The paint can be hellishly slippy, as Hamilton and Raikonnen found out towards the end of the last GP.
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Bazza, you didn't need to mention those two again!!
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mention those two again!!
Although the thought of them whooping and wriggling up a waterlogged, packed M6 covered with nervous mimsers going on and off their brakes for no reason and people like Adam dodging them does have a certain appeal...
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Hi Adam,
Getting back to the topic, when you say the ABS activated for a second time, do you mean you were slowing down gently with the wheels skittering, or do you mean you
braked gently and the brakes "grabbed" so hard your seatbelt locked?
On my old Pug 406 (53 plate) the Brake Assist was prone to this second action. If I had been driving quite quickly and braked sharply enough for the BA to kick in, then eased almost right off the brakes, when I applied even a small amount of pressure the BA would kick in and apply 100% braking effort - most disconcerting if you weren't expecting it!
I would think the BA imagines it's all counted as one stopping manoeuvre if you don't completely release the brakes the first time thus allowing the brake lights to go out.
Hth.
Edited by Webmaster on 21/09/2008 at 13:36
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Hi Dave,
Now there's a thought. I didn't think my car had anything as fancy as brake assist although now that you mention it, I guess that could explain what happened. If I did have such a feature, would there be a light on the dash or would that fall under the "ABS" umbrella?
And just to clarify, when I was braking, the pedal started pulsing...only for a split second though.
Thanks for your advice!
Adam
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Another outside possibility, the middle lane usually the travelling lane of thousands of HGV's and coaches will be worn smoother and have more traces of diesel and other films than the outside lane, in my humble and usually mistaken opinion.
Impressive bit of quick thinking driving though, well done Adam, seen it done many times by HGV drivers who were travelling too close to stop, but they seem often not to have checked or care what was in the lane /hard shoulder beside them and just moved over.
One memorable time was an artic S'bound on M6 at Walsall unable to stop when incredibly (sarcasm but true) the traffic stopped dead, it always did there before the toll rd especially, he casually braked himself into the 3rd lane stuffing a poor car driver into the armco, then carried on without stopping, careless twerps like that give the rest of us a bad name.
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Well done Adam, I did exactly the same thing myself the other month on the A19, cut into a gap in the queue too quickly (didn't realise how damp and slippy the road was), slammed all on trying to avoid the car in front and ended up aiming for the small gap between that car and the grass verge. I managed to come to a stop parallel with the car's rear doors with one wheel on the embankment.
ABS is clearly worth it's weight in gold, if I'd done that in any car other than my MG I suspect I'd have lost my NCB. To this day I don't think the Laguna driver realises how close they came to having someone who was clearly having "a moment" slam into them.
I've got to be honest though, would this action not occur to everyone, or, is it an ability that you lose as you get older? I would hate to think that my reactions got so slow that I couldn't think quickly enough to take avoiding action like that!!
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.it an ability that you lose as you get older?
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Wotcher Blue - long time no see
What happens as you get older is you get better at recognising and avoiding situations like that. Either that, or you don't get older ;-)
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Yes. The secret is to stop needing the quick reactions preferably before they slow down significantly. It needn't make you a mimser.
The other advantage of staying as far ahead of the game as possible is that it makes life much more relaxing and you much more relaxed.
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Would there be a light on the dash or would that fall under the "ABS" umbrella?
On the 406 it didn't have its own light, so I assume the ABS light covered both functions. BTW it didn't have traction control, so no extra light for that.
Edited by Webmaster on 21/09/2008 at 13:35
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Wotcher Blue - long time no see What happens as you get older is you get better at recognising and avoiding situations like that. Either that or you don't get older ;-)
Lol - very true! I think I'm getting better, I very rarely have butt clenchers anymore :-)
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What car was it? My dad had to do an emergency stop in his Rover 75 a few months ago and he described as the stopping power as almost unbelievable.
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